A substantial portion of the modern population has serious difficulty in ascending and descending stairways. This is becoming ever more common as the elderly substantially increase in numbers, as has been the case in recent years. In addition to the elderly, the lame, crippled, convalescents, and others suffering from various infirmities find great difficulty in traversing such stairways. This problem has been with us for centuries and is ever-increasing, simply because the numbers of those needing assistance is ever-increasing. Various attempts have been made in the past with different degrees of success or lack of success. None, however, offer a completely satisfactory solution and the use of all of them require physical exertion which is found to be excessive for most elderly and infirm individuals.
Evidence of the above is found in the various patents which have been issued to individuals who have sought to overcome or diminish this problem over the past half century. Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 2,782,796, issued on Feb. 26, 1957, demonstrates the use of a half-step which reduces the vertical step required by the user to one-half the vertical distance, although it doubles the number of steps required to be taken. A staff 14 is provided as a means for the user to steady himself and to facilitate lifting the half-step to the next step of the stairway, without the benefit of the steadying influence of the staff 14. Such movements are a source of real danger to one who is already unsteady and thus require sufficient effort so that repetition thereof, becomes excessively tiring.
A second U.S. Pat. No. 3,841,437, issued in 1974, upon a portable step stool, which suggests a step at a first level and a platform at a higher level. It also offers an intermediate or half-step, when the original step is too great for the user. Again, infirmity is recognized and only partly provided for by the provision of a vertical staff 24.
U.S. Design Pat. No. 287,283, issued on Dec. 16, 1986, shows a portable half-step stairway unit which has a slot in its side, apparently to facilitate grasping the unit manually and moving it vertically from step to step. It appears to have an anti-skid material over its weight-supporting surface to diminish the likelihood of serious falls by the user. Again, its use involves substantial effort in moving the device from step to step, which creates dangerous situations.
On Mar. 31, 1991, U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,735, issued on a step assisting device, which again is comprised of a half-step member and walking stick combination. Again, however, the user is required to lift the walking stick and attached half-step member from step to step, if the user is to successfully climb the stairway.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,199, issued on Jul. 4, 1989, shows a stair climbing aid designed to assist a handicapped person in moving up and down a flight of stairs. The device consists of a pair of vertically spaced platforms, with an attached vertically extending handle, designed to assist in moving from one step of the stairway to an adjacent step, and thereafter requiring movement of the entire unit to that adjacent step.
A solution to the problems outlined above was being sought as late as Jul. 21, 1992, as evidenced by the issuance of U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,494, on an Effective Riser Reducer Step Device. It too shows a half-step device with an upstanding handle for lifting the same from step to step, successively, as the user progresses along the stairway.
All of the above devices have serious disadvantages. One is that substantial effort is needed on the part of the user to repeatedly move the half-step from step to step, as required. Another is that the user must rely upon an upstanding handle which is no more stable than the half-step member, which necessarily is moved from step to step. Still another is that the half step is movable and not anchored, Kith consequent instability and danger to the already unstable user from shifting of the half-step relative to the tread.